Germany, Europe’s most robust economy, said Thursday that its unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent in November, the lowest figure since West and East Germany were unified in 1990. Even as Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Berlin politicians struggle to form a coalition government, the German economy remains strong, with …

OPEC agreed on Thursday to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018 as it tries to finish clearing a global glut of crude while signalling it could exit the deal earlier if the market overheats. Non-OPEC Russia, which this year reduced production significantly with OPEC for the first …

The International Labor Organization says a majority of the world’s population, four billion people, have no social protection, leaving them mired in an endless cycle of poverty.  The report says 45 percent of the global population is covered by at least one social benefit.  But that leaves 55 percent without …

The buoyant economic recovery across the 19-country eurozone has pushed unemployment down to its lowest level in nearly nine years but has yet to translate to a sustained pick-up in wages and prices, official figures indicated Thursday.   Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, said the jobless rate fell to …

Fed Chair Janet Yellen appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for what may be the last time she speaks before U.S. lawmakers. Yellen, whose term expires in February, will likely be succeeded by President Donald Trump’s pick, Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell. This week, members of the U.S. Congress got a …

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Wednesday that Trump administration demands for a U.S.-specific automotive content requirement in NAFTA were “not viable,” and he declined to specify when Mexico would formally respond. At a news conference following a series of meetings with senior U.S. trade officials and lawmakers in Washington, …

Opposition has grown among Americans to a Republican tax plan before the U.S. Congress, with 49 percent of people who were aware of the measure saying they opposed it, up from 41 percent in October, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Congressional Republicans are trying to rush their …

Colombia’s palm oil industry and big businesses have pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains as the country battles to reverse the growing destruction of its tropical rainforests. The commitment signed this week makes Colombia the first country in the world to launch its own chapter of the Tropical …

The number of international visitors to the United States through June fell sharply from last year, according to government data released Wednesday. And the number of business travelers fell by much more than the drop in tourists, according to the monthly report from the Commerce Departments National Travel and Tourism …

Turkey’s deteriorating finances are hurting the country’s banks whose reliance on dollar funding makes them vulnerable to the worst-case scenario: a sudden halt or reversal of foreign investment flows. International investors are growing nervous about Turkey for a variety of reasons. But U.S. legal action against a number of Turkish …

The world’s largest economy shook off the impact of several hurricanes and grew a bit faster than first thought in July, August, and September. On Wednesday, U.S. government experts said the economy expanded at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, which is three-tenths of a percent faster …

U.S. President Donald Trump is heading Wednesday to Missouri to tout his tax overhaul, trying to convince working class Americans that their taxes would go down and more jobs would be created if Congress adopts the plan. Trump is set to speak to about 1,000 people in St. Charles, a …

The price of bitcoin, the most widely used virtual currency, rose above $10,000 on Wednesday for the first time, breaking a symbolic threshold in what has been a vertiginous ascent this year. The cost of buying one bitcoin as measured by the website coindesk.com was at $10,673 by morning trading …

The fashion industry urgently needs to reform its wasteful, polluting ways, British designer Stella McCartney and record-breaking sailor Ellen MacArthur said Tuesday. With global clothing sales doubling since 2000, people now wear each item far fewer times, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said, calling for items ranging from T-shirts to jeans …

Serbia began work on a China-funded railway line on Tuesday to try to improve the Balkan country’s infrastructure, an effort also expected to strengthen Beijing’s influence in Europe. In May Serbia borrowed $297.6 million from China’s Exim Bank to modernize a stretch of the railway line between Belgrade and the …

After Hurricane Maria damaged tens of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico, a newly created Florida company with an unproven record won more than $30 million in contracts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs. Bronze Star LLC never delivered those urgently …

President Donald Trump’s accusation that a federal watchdog has devastated the financial industry is unsupported by the evidence that banks like best: profits. Trump’s weekend tweet was aimed against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, little known by most people until it became the center of a struggle over who’s in …

This week for the first time in 357 years they are changing the guard at Buckingham Palace, not with Foot Guards wearing their signature red tunics, but with sailors, who have temporarily taken over the ceremonial role outside the royal residence to mark 2017 as the “Year of the Navy.” …

Chobani, the company that helped kick-start the Greek yogurt craze, is shrinking those words on its label as it may expand beyond that food in an increasingly crowded yogurt market. The new look, which will show up in supermarkets this week, removes “Greek Yogurt” from underneath the Chobani name. The …

The coal industry and environmentalists squared off Tuesday at a public hearing over the Trump administration’s planned repeal of an Obama-era plan to limit planet-warming carbon emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency was holding the only scheduled hearing on the reversal in Charleston, West Virginia, capital of a state heavily dependent …

Calling on India to close the gender gap in the job market, Ivanka Trump opened this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad. Trump said Tuesday, “Women still face steep obstacles to starting, owning and growing their businesses.  We must ensure women entrepreneurs have access to capital, access to networks and …

Mount Agung, an active volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali, appears ready to erupt after months of ominous steaming. Indonesia’s Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) upgraded the alert to the highest level on Monday when the volcano shifted into what geologists say is the magmatic phase before an eruption. A …

Jerome Powell’s confirmation as the next chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared all but assured following a mostly orderly and cordial Senate hearing Tuesday.   Powell, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Janet Yellen when her four-year term ends in February, sought to reassure both political …

Women need to be given a greater role in industries in poorer nations to meet the global goal of cutting poverty by 2030, the head of the United Nations industrial development agency said on Monday after being voted in for a second term. Li Yong said empowering women will be …

Diplomats are searching for ways to prevent the global trade dispute resolution system from freezing up, after the Trump administration blocked appointments to the body that acts as the supreme court for global trade. U.S. President Donald Trump has vetoed the appointment of judges to fill vacancies on the seven-member …